Past Present Comp LP

When I was 18 or so and pretty new to the world of hardcore and punk rock, compilations were pretty useful things to have around. Back before the internet was switched on, the only way to hear bands was on records or tapes, but even finding places that sold such things was not easy. So finding a compilation with loads of bands I had never heard, or heard of, was a great way of trying new bands out and finding new favourites whose records I could then go and explore later. However, that was the early 90s. In 2010 I would argue that things are different. People can listen to any band they want at any time thanks to the internerd. So what point do compilations serve?

The only answer I can come up with is "fun". Compilations nowadays seem to be more about grouping together bands to play on a record linked together by some kind of common theme. A semi-recentish trend is 'the tribute record', where different bands cover an older band's songs. And Revelation Records have just added to this genre with the third in their series of dodgy compilations to mark another 50 releases. If you recall, Rev 50 was some pointless CD compilation, Rev 100 was a pointless double LP compilation, and now we have Rev 150, a compilation LP of current (at least, they were a couple of years ago) bands slaughtering some early Revelation classics.

First up, I have to say, before listening to this thing, I actually really like the cover. As you can see, the cover is a 'live' shot of a CBGB matinee show. Well, that's what it's meant to look like. It's actually a mock up (really?) using GI Joe figures. As you probably know (and if not, please go boil your head) Revelation used to trade rare records for GI Joe stuff in the late 80s. So this cover does seem a fitting tribute to the label's early days in more ways than one.

But what about the record itself? Is it worth buying? Well, yes and no. As a fun, themed record (and of course, being on Revelation), then it's a must have. But as a valid LP in it's own right, unfortunately, it seems pretty pointless. Trust me, you're not going to listen to it more than twice. Once out of curiosity to see how each song sounds, and then a second time to confirm that listening to it any further would be a waste of time.

The problem for me is that most of the covers are pretty close to the originals. I used to think that covers were only good if they sounded really close to the original. These days my opinion is the opposite. If a cover sounds like the original, then it serves no point. I mean, as an example, Down To Nothing do a pretty good cover of the Judge song 'Where It Went'. Musically it's absolutely spot on. The vocal isn't quite Mike Judge. But it's still as good a Judge cover as you're going to get. But my point is this - why would I choose to listen to Down To Nothing covering Judge when I could just as easily listen to Judge? The same goes for loads of the songs on here - they're too close to the originals to be interesting. That said though, it remains interesting once or twice to listen to these songs but have some subtle differences thrown in. But I just don't think the differences are significant enough in most cases to make the songs notable and interesting.

The most interesting songs for me are the ones that are in some way different to the original songs, which makes them individual songs in their own right. Ignite do an interesting cover of Youth Of Today's 'Disengage', and Walter Schreifels does an acoustic Sick Of It All medley. There's also some band called The Twilight Transmission who do an alright Quicksand cover.

To be fair, even though this LP isn't exactly great, it's not bad either. There's only one stand out awful song, which is a Texas Is The Reason cover by some band called Mikoto. Every other of the 23 songs is a cover of a hardcore song, and these clowns ruin the tempo and mood by cranking out some mid-paced emo jive. Bad choice and definitely should have been rejected from the final version. Shame on you, Mikoto... whoever you are/were.

You probably shouldn't listen to me though. I'm still annoyed that I got sent a black one instead of the yellow one I ordered.